


Run Away Like It Was Yesterday

by count-to-seventeen (parisienneheart)



Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Album)
Genre: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Prequel, Running Away, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-07
Updated: 2014-01-07
Packaged: 2018-08-12 12:42:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7934968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parisienneheart/pseuds/count-to-seventeen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before Leya met the Fabulous Killjoys, she had wandered alone in the desert scared, friendless, and hopeless--until she met an elderly couple and three men whom she would come to know as family: Diamondback, Sniper, and Jax.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Run Away Like It Was Yesterday

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted from my tumblr, [count-to-seventeen.tumblr.com](http://count-to-seventeen.tumblr.com)
> 
> This takes place prior to the events in A Dream Where the Fallout Lies. This was a prequel requested from followers who wanted to know about Leya's life before she met the Fabulous Killjoys. And as Diamondback, Sniper, and Jax are mentioned frequently throughout the Count to Seventeen series, and because they mean so much to Leya, I wanted to flesh out their characters a bit :) So here is some slightly angsty, but mostly heartwarming fic about how Leya got to Zone 18 and met three of her best friends.
> 
> Enjoy!

It was a hot summer day. Well, it’s always hot in the Zones, but summer in the Zones is like…hell. The only good thing about being in the desert is that it it’s super dry instead of super humid, so as long as you have water and shade, you’re good. The only problem is that I didn’t really have much of anything out here.

And here I was…walking along a stretch of road with nothing in sight but dirt, weeds, and sky. Trying hard not to cry because I already cried for like twenty minutes a few hours ago and crying now seems like a waste of water.

I had been ditched by Macy and Travis, a couple of 23-year-olds who decided to go back to Battery City as soon as they found a car. They were both pretty high maintenance and the heat wave this past week had been making them both lash out more than usual. We’d been sticking together for a few weeks, heading out east, hoping it would be cooler out here than in the inner Zones. And while it was slightly less hot, it still burned to sit out in the sun for any longer than five minutes.

Macy’s reasoning for heading back to Battery City was that she’d rather take air conditioning with a complementary brainwash than be stuck here in the Zones during a heat wave. I tried to argue, but Travis got rude, and he was driving, so they dropped me off at the first place they could see that had shade. It was an old truck stop with a small, two-cell bathroom. I probably should have stayed there and waited for someone on the road to see me. But it was noon now, and there was absolutely no shade anyway.

At least Macy and Travis were kind enough to leave me one water bottle and a bag of trail mix. So I’d survive for like a day or two on this…

I started to look around me. It was all quiet, the air was shimmering in the horizon, and I could feel my head baking from the heat. I wrapped my leather jacket around my head to form a kind of turban. At least now my scalp would stop burning.

A few steps more as I walked along the dirt, I thought I could see something orange and square in the distance. If that’s a house or something, then that means shade! And if there’s shade, there’s a place I can stay!

Without much thought, i started to run in the direction of the orange square. It started to look larger as I ran toward it. A few more minutes, and I’d have a place to sit!

If I wasn’t so bad at running.

My side was hurting and I was breathing hard while I slowed down and tried to open the water bottle to take a couple sips. Once I felt the sharp pain in my side disappear, I started up at a run again.

In only a few minutes, I got up to this square orange adobe house that looked like something I’d seen in an old western movie. It must be the only thing around for miles. It looked dark on the inside from what I could see through slats of boarded up windows along the walls. I went up to what looked like a door, and pushed. It creaked open and sent up a small cloud of dust.

It’s quiet and I can barely see, since my eyes are still adjusting from the stark contrast in brightness from the outside world. But no sooner had I walked in three steps before I heard a gruff voice yell “Freeze!”

I looked around frantically and stopped where I stood. Then a thin, gray-haired man came out from the shadows and pointed a large ray gun at my face. From the other side, a thin, gray-haired woman also jumped out.

“Who are you?” the old woman sharply asked.

I gulped in my dry throat.

“She asked you a question!” the old man snapped, his scruffy gray jaw hardened into a scowl. “What are you doing barging into this house? Are you working for BL/ind?”

“What? No!” I quickly replied as I put my hands up.

“You don’t look like much…” the old woman sneered. “But we can’t be sure. Jonah, keep that gun steady.”

“Look–I just needed a place to sit for a while–Hey!”

The old woman had come up and started patting down my clothes and felt up my pockets. She grabbed the food and water bottle from my hands and tore the jacket from my head.

“Hey–you leave my stuff alone!” I yelled.

“What the hell is a girl like you doing all the way out here on your own?” The old man asked, whose name I guessed was Jonah.

“I got left behind by some friends!” I quickly shouted.

“This far out?”

“I’m telling the truth! I swear…”

“She’s got nothing on her,” the old woman said as she backed up from me.

“Please… I’ve been walking for hours. Can I just sit here for a bit?” I asked, feeling tears threaten to come out of my eyes again.

After a few seconds’ hesitation, Jonah lowered his gun. “You seem harmless. Have a sit.”

They walked over to what looked like a kitchen table. It had a bunch of pots and bowls on it already, unwashed, but looking like they hadn’t been used in a long time. I took my water bottle from the ground and my bag of trail mix. I started to drink and eat, while the two old people sat and stared at me closely.

“You said you got left behind?” the old woman asked as she tidied up the long braid on her hair into a bun. “Does that mean you got nowhere to call home?”

“No,” I answered, pausing to stop eating.

The thin-haired old man kept his pale blue eyes on me. “How old are you?”

“Just turned nineteen in May…” I quietly answered, keeping my eyes down so I wouldn’t have to meet either of their invasive gazes.

“Nineteen years old? You’re still a child!” the old woman exclaimed.

“I’m not a child!” I protested. “And I’ve been out here for the past five months now… Could a child do that?”

“You’ve been on your own?” Jonah asked.

“Well, no…” I answered as I looked down at the nicked wooden table.

He sighed through his nose. “Where are your parents?”

“In Battery City,” i said, still looking down. It was silent for a few more seconds.

“You ran away?” Jonah asked.

“I left my parents a long time ago. I only ran to the Zones because they were trying to arrest all the rebels in Battery City.”

“And your family, your friends?”

“Gone,” I quietly answered.

It was quiet for several seconds, then the old couple exchanged glances.

“Feel free to stay here, child,” the woman told me.

“Stay… here?” I repeated as I looked up at her with wide eyes.

“Well, where else do you plan on going?” she asked with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face.

I searched her eyes, hoping I’d find an answer.

“You’re not freeloading, though,” Jonah cut in. “We have enough trouble takin’ care of ourselves as it is. No, you’re going to do work while you’re here.”

“Of course–anything in return for shelter!” I quickly offered.

The old couple looked between each other. Then the old woman said, “For starters, you can clear up this room. It must be months since the last time I’ve been able to see it spotless.”

I looked around, noting not just all the dirty dishes on the table, but also random objects cluttered around the large room we were in. Like freaking broken lamps and what looked like metal toolboxes cluttered in shelves with a bunch of other things like wrenches, tape, and just bunch of crap crammed everywhere.

“You want me to clear all this up?” I asked.

“You want to stay here?” Jonah asked.

I brushed a hand through my hair. “Well… I mean…”

“We don’t expect you to get it done in one day,” the old woman cut me off as she looked at me with a careful stare. Then she cracked a smile at the corner of her mouth.

I looked between her and Jonah, and then smiled, although it felt difficult to do.

“Okay,” I told them.

They smiled to each other. Then Jonah turned back to me. “What’s your name, girl?’

"Leya,” I replied.

Jonah nodded. “I’m Jonah. This is my wife Susana.”

I nodded back and smiled politely.

Susana stood up and took in a deep breath. “Well, now that that’s over with, we should get going.”

“You’re going somewhere?” I asked in surprise.

Jonah stood up from the table and began to stretch. “We need to get our water ration for the next week. There’s a nearby water hole, although it’s been mostly drained up since the heat wave started.

Susana looked me in the eye. "You stay here. Don’t open the door for anyone.”

“Okay…” I feebly replied.

The old couple both nodded and stood up. They quickly picked up large burlap sacks and put on brown leather hats that reminded me of something cowboys would wear. Then they left out the door without another word to me.

I sat here contemplating what just happened. I just got myself a place to stay. But how long was I going to even stay here? And what was I going to do here? I still need to find Krys… how is staying here going to help? Of course, it does beat walking around on my own during this heat wave…

I continued to eat the trail mix Macy and Travis left me with, when only a few minutes later, I heard heavy stomps outside the door. I gasped and looked toward the door, wondering what to do.

Susana and Jonah said don’t let anybody in. What could that mean? Were there dangerous people out here or were they just trying to keep this place off limits to anyone else? If it was for the former reason, I don’t have any weapons on me, and the old couple seemed to take whatever was within close reach.

Before I could make a move, the door flew open with a small thud. Beyond the bright light that filtered in, I could only see the tall shadow of a broad shouldered man. He was talking to someone.

“…don’t complain when you’re the one being rescued…”

Someone murmured behind him, and I saw two more shadows emerge from behind.

“Rescued? By you? Quit patronizing me, you–” The second guy had decided to quiet up once he realized that the guy in front of him had stopped in his tracks.

When they came closer to the table, I could see the features of the first man more clearly. This guy was tanned, with brown hair that sloped upward over his forehead, and dark, brown eyes that stared at me intensely. He was carrying a ray gun, resting the barrel across his shoulder and he wore a red plaid, short sleeve shirt over a black t-shirt, faded jeans, and brown boots.

“Who the hell are you?” he asked me with a furrow of his brow.

I jumped, but swallowed. “Who are _**you**_?”

He looked confused. The other two silhouettes came forward, revealing themselves. One of the guys had blonde neck-length hair and wore a red t-shirt, blue jeans, and black combat boots. The other guy had pointy black hair and pale-skinned arms with at least twelve collective tattoos on them. He was wearing a black shirt under a jean jacket that was shredded where the sleeves must have been ripped off.

“I live here,” the first guy told me with an attitude as he inflected his words. “Now tell me, who the hell are you?”

I stood up and frowned. “You don’t have to be so rude! My name’s Leya. And… I’m staying here now.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Staying? For how long? Do the old man and woman know you’re here?”

“Of course they do!” I countered, as I realized that this guy knew about Jonah and Susana. “They just went out for a bit.”

He nodded, still looking skeptical.

“They didn’t tell me about anyone else living here,” I continued with a wary look.

“Well… they wouldn’t,” the guy replied with a scoff.

I creased my eyebrows, wondering what the hell that meant. “Yeah, well, they told me not to open the door for anyone either!” I crossed my arms and stared at him.

“Look… honest to God, we live here,” he told me with an exasperated look. Then he lowered his ray gun. “Look at the bottom of that red mug.”

I looked back at the table and saw a red mug in a pile of the clutter. I bent forward and picked it up while switching my gaze between the newcomers. At the bottom of the mug was the word “Diamondback” written at the bottom in black marker.

“It says Diamondback, doesn’t it?” the brown haired guy asked. “Well, that’s me. Well–my Killjoy name anyway.”

“Okay, I believe you,” I replied and relaxed as I put the mug back down.

“Great,” he tersely smiled. “You mind telling us what you’re doing here now?”

“I just got here,” I answered. “I don’t have anywhere else to go, so the old couple told me that I could stay here as long as I needed to.”

Diamondback nodded. “So you’re all alone?”

“Um, yeah,” I said as I brushed a strand of hair behind my ear.

The blonde guy stepped forward and extended his hand. “Well, if you’re going to be staying here, we might as well introduce ourselves.” He was smiling. He looked nice.

I smiled back, feeling strange because it had felt like so long since I last genuinely smiled. I stood up and shook his hand.

“I’m Jax,” he told me as he shook my hand and kept eye contact with me.

“I’m Leya,” I replied.

“Let me guess, that’s not your Killjoy name…” Diamondback muttered as he held his arms crossed.

I looked to the side uncomfortably. “Uh…well, no… but…”

Diamondback frowned at me. “Hey, kid, if there’s one thing you have to learn out here, it’s that you should always keep your real name a secret. Not all other Killjoys are friendly, and they could use that information to their advantage.”

“Oh, right…” I said as I scratched behind my ear, feeling stupid.

Jax looked at me sympathetically with his pale blue eyes. “Don’t mind Diamond so much. He’s just too serious for his own good.”

I smiled at this.

“I think I’m serious enough for my own good,” Diamond replied with an arch of his left eyebrow. “And for yours, too, pinhead. Who the hell just saved your neck while you were off goofing around in that ditch today–almost got yourself ghosted by a Drac!”

Jax crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at this insult. “I had it under control…”

Diamondback scoffed.

“Well, you already know Diamondback, but this other guy here–his name’s Sniper,” Jax continued as he pointed behind him with a thumb at the black haired guy. He simply raised up a hand to greet me. I awkwardly raised a hand back, although this guy seemed to not look at me with all too much enthusiasm. He looked bored.

“Don’t mind him not saying hi. He doesn’t really talk much to anyone,” Jax told me with a whisper. Then he resumed his louder voice. “So… Leya, you got a Killjoy name?”

“Yeah… it’s just kind of stupid, so I don’t like to use it a lot,” I replied.

“Well, stupid or not, you’re gonna need to use it,” Diamond told me with a raise of his eyebrows.

“What are you, the dad of the group?” I remarked with a smirk. Jax laughed as he looked back at his friend.

He uncrossed his arms and smirked to the side. “No, but I’m the oldest one here–and so far, the smartest one, so it’s my job to keep everyone in line.”

“So you’re like the dad,” Jax told him with a raise of his eyebrows.

“Yeah, and you’re the snot nosed little brat that I’m going to spank if he doesn’t keep his big mouth shut!” Diamondback said as he walked over to Jax and hooked an arm across his throat. Jax struggled and tried to pry off Diamondback’s buff biceps away from him, although both of them had playful looks in their eyes.

I couldn’t help it and laughed as I looked at them, acting like a pair of little brothers. I put a hand over my mouth. I can’t remember the last time I laughed.

They heard me and looked over. Diamondback took his arm away from Jax and cleared his throat, while Jax caught his breath as he bent over. Sniper casually rose an eyebrow and then walked past all of us, to go to the right side of the room and sit on what looked like an old, green lumpy couch.

Diamondback looked at me and shrugged. “Anyway, you need a Killjoy name.”

“I have one,” I told him. “It’s just… lame.”

He softly laughed. “Come on, it can’t be that bad. What is it?”

I cleared my throat. “It’s… Stellar… Stellar Jazz.”

I looked over at Diamondback and Jax to gauge their reactions. They both had somewhat blank expressions.

“I’ve heard worse,” Diamondback remarked.

I rose an eyebrow. “Well… thanks, I guess.”

“I like it,” Jax remarked, smiling at me. I smiled back.

“If it’s alright, though, I’d rather you guys just call me Leya,” I told them. I really didn’t want them using my Killjoy name to address me.

“Alright,” Diamondback answered. “The old man and woman don’t use Killjoy names, either. They don’t see a sense in hiding their identities, since they’d kind of just kill anyone who would double cross them.” He shortly chuckled at that.

Jax then fidgeted with a sort of swaying step and said, “I’ll be right back.” He quickly ran out into what looked like a back door of the home. Once the light receded from the opened door, I turned back to Diamondback, who was still standing in front of me. I looked around and saw that Sniper was resting on the couch with his feet up on one of the arms.

Diamondback finally walked forward to the table and set down his ray gun. Now that he was closer, I could see various light scars across his right forearm and black soot marks lining his face. He looked over at me. “So, you’ve been out in the Zones for long?”

“Five months,” I answered.

He nodded. “So you’re still sort of a newbie at this, huh?”

“You can tell?” I asked with a wince.

“Well, you don’t seem to have a ray gun on you and you introduced yourself by your real name. Two things that you wouldn’t expect from a Killjoy,” Diamondback said as he crossed his arms.

“Well… I’ve never really been around real Killjoys before,” I told him. “I mean, I guess we’re all sort of Killjoys, but I’ve only stuck with the people I knew from Battery City.”

“Well, you’re definitely in Killjoy country now. After all, the people that make it this far from Battery City… they’re the toughest. Or the smartest. Or the most resourceful.” He smiled warmly. “That means that even you have something special inside that allowed you to get this far.”

I smiled at this. I guess this guy Diamondback isn’t so bad after all…

“So did the old couple give you a tour of the place yet?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No…”

“Good. I’ll show you around. It’s not much, of course, but it’s a decent sized home. Come on,” he said as he waved an arm forward and started walking. “Well, we were just in the kitchen. Sometimes you can eat there if there isn’t too much shit lying around on the table. And over here… we have the living room.”

I followed him over to where the green couch was, and saw a few other antique-looking furniture and books stacked in a library case. Diamondback walked up to the case and moved several books, then reached in for what looked like a handle and pulled it away.

“Here is where we keep reserve weapons,” he said as he revealed a row of small things that looked like grenades and on one of the lower shelves, there were a couple of ray guns.

“Wow,” I remarked. From the corner of my eye, I saw Sniper also look at the bookcase.

“Yeah, there’s more where this came from, too, all around the house. Of course, you’ll probably get the old folks to show you that when they come back.”

I nodded.

Diamondback walked back towards the center of the living room and sighed. “Sniper, would you please not put your feet on the sofa?”

Sniper turned to him with a pointed raise of his eyebrow.

“Yes, I’m being serious,” Diamond said as he put his hands on his hips.

Sniper sighed and gracefully threw his feet onto the ground. Then he looked back up at Diamondback with an inquisitive stare.

“Thank you,” Diamondback said with a bit of sass in the jerk of his head. He turned back to me as he kept walking. “As you can see, this place is kind of a dump because we live with slobs here.”

I had to hold in the laugh I was feeling. He sounded like a disgruntled housewife.

Diamondback sighed and continued to walk to an empty space in the corner between the living room and the front door. He tapped on the far wall and turned to me. “Here is a pullout bed. And over in that closet is another cot. Sniper, Jax and I sleep down here.” He paused as he bit his lip in thought. “I guess we’ll have to find you a place to sleep, too, but I wouldn’t worry too much about it. It may be a bit cramped, but there’s enough room for everyone.”

I nodded, actually realizing that I’m going to sleep in this place tonight. My chest tightened. As long as I had been out on the road, meeting strangers and making temporary friends, it still kind of made me nervous to be around people I didn’t know. Especially to be sleeping around people I didn’t know. Living with them. I couldn’t trust anyone out here. And that’s been proven time and time again. Today being the most recent example. Of course, this is the first actual sort of home I’ve been to, and these new guys seem nice. So far.

While I had been musing inside my head, Diamondback had reached for a small step ladder and set it up in the middle of the floor just where we were. He barely made a sound as he stepped up to the top rung and pulled on a dangling string from the low wooden ceiling. A panel then opened up and out came an extendable ladder. “Up here’s where the old man and woman sleep,” he told me as he looked down.

I looked up, trying to peer into the space above, but I could barely see anything beyond the rungs of the wooden ladder.

“If you want to check it out, feel free to come up,” Diamondback told me with a shrug.

“Um, no, it’s okay!” I quickly replied. “I don’t think they’d like me poking around in their room. They even told me not to touch anything.”

Diamondback narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “Those fucking geezers…” he muttered to himself as he started to pull the folded ladder down. Then he looked down at me. “Leya, it’s important that you don’t let those two push you around! Alright, just stick it to them the next time they try and talk down to you!”

I uneasily laughed at this, wondering if I wasn’t getting myself into an unpleasant situation here. “Why do I get the feeling that you don’t really get along that well with them?” I asked him.

He breathed out in a laugh. “Well, that’s ‘cause I don’t.”

I tilted my head. “Then why are you here? Living with them, I mean.”

Diamondback looked down for a few seconds before he answered. “I kind of owe them. They saved my life. And Jax and Sniper’s as a result.”

“Oh,” I dumbly replied.

He looked down at me again and pursed his lips into a meager smile. “As grumpy as those two are, they’re good people. They let me stay here, anyhow, so I can’t complain too much. They’re a bit harsh, but don’t let them scare you.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

I followed Diamondback into Jonah and Susana’s bedroom, and saw that it had only one queen sized bed, two old wooden night stands, and a small, faded red armchair. Everything in here just looked…old. The pattern looked like it was popular in the 1970s, with its green, pink and orange colors, and then all the furniture looked like it was falling apart. A curtain separated the bedroom from what I guess was a bathroom of sorts. There was an old porcelain tub and several sponges organized on a small wooden rack that sat on the floor.

Back in the bedroom, I saw something really cool in the corner. I walked forward carefully, feeling the wooden panels bend under my feet as I traversed the room. “Is that really a guitar?” I asked with a smile as I approached an acoustic instrument. It was shiny dark brown, with a mahogany neck and golden strings that shone beneath the light that trickled in here.

Diamondback nodded. “Yep. Old man worries more about keeping that thing clean and polished than keeping up the rest of the house.”

“I haven’t seen a guitar in a couple of years. Not since they were banned in Battery City,” I softly exclaimed as I reached out my hand to it hesitantly.

“You play?” Diamondback asked with a raised eyebrow.

I snorted. “No, but I’ve always wanted to learn.”

“Well, I don’t see why you can’t. Just come up here and use it when the old man’s away,” Diamondback suggested with a smirk.

“You don’t think he’d kill me if he caught me?” I asked.

“Well, don’t get caught,” Diamondback laughed.

I smiled as I brought my fingers to brush the strings over the sound hole in the guitar. The strings vibrated and brought a pleasant ring to the room. It was calming.

Diamondback shortly led me out of the room and then through the backdoor, where there was a small wooden shack-looking thing sitting in the dirt.

“That’s the bathroom. A regular outhouse,” he replied. “No plumbing though, so… yeah…” he said as he brought his hands to his hips.

“Well, it’s better than no bathroom, right?” I added with a shrug of my shoulders.

“Not by much,” he muttered back to me.

Just then, the door of the outhouse opened and Jax came out, buttoning up his jeans.

“Oh,” I softly said as I looked away.

“Ah, what are you guys doing out here?” Jax asked.

“Just showing the new girl around,” Diamondback answered. “You were in there the whole time?”

Jax’s face reddened. “So–so what if I was?”

I tried not to look directly at him, in case it made him feel even more embarrassed than he looked.

“Hey, man, I was just asking. If you gotta go, you gotta go,” Diamondback answered as he started pacing again.

Jax put his hands over his pockets and cleared his throat. “Yeah, well…” He walked back into the house without saying another word.

“Anyway, there’s the bathroom. I wouldn’t go in there for a while if I was you,” Diamondback told me with a smirk.

I awkwardly smiled back before we walked back into the house.

“So yeah, that’s it. Feel free to make yourself at home,” Diamondback said as we moved over to the kitchen again.

“Thanks,” I replied.

  


It was an hour before Jonah and Susana came back. Jax stayed in the living room and kept quiet next to Sniper, so Diamondback just engaged in smalltalk with me. I think Jax, who was so talkative earlier, just seemed embarrassed or something. And Sniper hadn’t been speaking all day to anyone, so I didn’t really have much hope there. When Jonah and Susana came back, the old duo didn’t seem too happy about it.

“Oh, you punks are already back?” Jonah remarked as he walked in though the door with a condescending look.

Diamondback, who had been sitting next to me at the table, got up and frowned. “Yeah. Killed eight Dracs this time. All in one sweep.”

Susana came into the kitchen and rose her eyebrows at this response. “Eight? It’s like they’re multiplying by the day. Like damn cockroaches!”

“Is that water?” Jax asked as he stood up in the living room, gesturing to the large plastic jug Jonah had placed at the counter of the kitchen.

“We didn’t get as much this time, so we’ll be drinking in smaller rations,” Susana sighed. Then she turned to me and her eyes widened. It was like she had barely noticed I was still here. “Oh! So you boys met the young lady… what was your name again, hon?”

“Leya,” I replied.

“Yes, Leya…” she said with a nod of her head. “You boys have better been treating her with respect!”

“We have been,” Diamondback muttered.

“Thought we told you not to let anybody in…” Jonah grunted as he gave me a hard look.

I felt myself twitch out of awkwardness. “Well…”

“Oh, leave the kid alone!” Diamondback snapped. “She’s probably not used to such a sick sense of humor.”

“Who’s making a joke here?” Jonah muttered in response as he kept a straight face.

Diamondback narrowed his eyes at this remark. “Don’t take this guy seriously, Leya. He’s just got nothing else better to do than be bitter and bring his bitterness upon other people.”

Susana suddenly clapped her hands loudly. “Alright! You two stow it before I kick the both of you out of here! We have a dinner to make, so I’d rather you all help me with that.”

While everyone else started to help with dinner, which was going to be some kind of vegetable soup, I sat in the living room and skimmed through some of the books on the shelves for the next couple of hours. It felt strange to be reading something that I could hold in my hands.

While I read, I overheard some of the bickering in the kitchen, and some playful banter. It seems like each person who lives in the house couldn’t be more different from the next. That’s probably why everyone butted heads, but there still seems to be something friendly behind it all.

When we sat down to eat, all everybody seemed to talk about was Dracs. Apparently more and more agents and Draculoids have come into the area to take out any Killjoys they could find. This was all boring to me, so I didn’t really pay attention until I heard my name.

“So Leya, what’s your story?” Susana asked.

“Hmm?” I said, jerking my head up as soon as I heard my name. I looked around the table, which we were all crowded around on one end, due to all the clutter. Everyone was looking at me.

“Well… I left Battery City about five months ago. I’ve been sticking with other people across the desert, but… things just didn’t work out.”

I didn’t really feel like talking about my past. I didn’t want to be reminded of how shitty things have been for the past few months. How everybody I knew left me. How I couldn’t even celebrate my birthday this year because I never knew what day it was out in the Zones. How I haven’t felt completely comfortable for any period of time since I’ve been out here…

“So where were you heading today?” Jonah asked me with a stare.

I cleared my throat. “Um… I don’t know…”

I could feel my cheeks warm at this. I must really sound like an idiot to these people, who seem to have their act together. I literally had nothing but the clothes on my back.

Susana cleared her throat. “Well, it’s good you came to us, then.”

I looked at her with a slightly raised eyebrow. It almost sounded like she didn’t mind that I was here.

“Yeah. Just don’t let yourself get cornered by any of these guys,” Jonah input. “They haven’t been around young women in a long time, so–”

“Jonah!” Susana scolded as she kicked him under the table.

I felt a smile creep at the corner of my mouth, but I wasn’t sure if that was the appropriate response.

“Oh, give me a break!” Diamondback groaned. “Nothing’s going to happen. Right, Jax?” He turned to Jax with a glare.

Jax looked between me and Diamondback and stuttered, “Uh, yeah, of course not!”

I looked over at Sniper, who was silently eating his soup. He was the only one who had said less than me all dinner. In fact, he had said nothing all day.

After dinner, Susana gave me some blankets, sleeping clothes, and a pillow so that I could sleep in the living room. The arrangement was that I would sleep on the couch while Sniper would sleep on the twin-size cot, and Diamondback and Jax would share the full size pull-out bed.

“You sure that’s alright with you guys?” I asked, feeling guilty.

“Sure, it’s fine,” Jax told me with a crinkly-eyed smile. “Unless Diamond decides to start spooning me, then I might have a bit of a problem…”

He laughed until Diamondback nudged an elbow into his ribs.

I shyly smiled. “Okay… I just… I feel bad for just barging in and taking over your guys’ space.”

“Don’t feel bad,” Diamondback told me with a shake of his head. “You need a place to stay, so you got one.”

I nodded my head in understanding. After this exchange, I put my bed together on the couch while the others sat around and talked with each other. With lamps lighting up the room in a warm orange glow, this place seemed a bit more like a home. The way that Jax sat cross-legged on his bed while Diamondback leaned against the wall, and Sniper let his leg dangle off the side of his cot, it just seemed so comfortable here.

Yet there was something that made my heart ache in anxiety. I laid down onto the couch, and started to peruse through one novel that I had picked up from the bookcase earlier. It was some kind of mystery novel, set in a coastal town. Maybe not the cheeriest thing to be reading, but it relaxed me.

After about an hour, I heard footsteps approach and I looked to my right.

“You okay?” I heard Diamondback ask as I saw his jeans.

“Hmm?” I replied as I looked up to meet his eyes. “Oh, I’m fine. Just… tired.”

He nodded as he had his hands on his hips. Then he cleared his throat and answered, “You do look like you could use a lot of rest.” More quietly, he asked, “You’ve had a rough time out here, haven’t you?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Probably no more rough than anybody else…”

He nodded. “It’s true. Everyone has a story, but… It’s okay to admit that you’ve gone through shit. And it’s okay to not be so strong sometimes.”

My eyes widened. It felt like he was reading into my soul.

He looked down at me with a warm smile. “Go to sleep. You’ll feel better when you wake up.”

I nodded. “Okay. Thanks.”

Diamondback turned around and rejoined Jax and Sniper to fix up their beds. I closed my eyes and sank back into the cushions as I dropped the book to the floor. Even though I was still feeling a little anxious about spending my first night with strangers again, sleep held onto me fast and I didn’t wake up until the next morning.

  


  


The morning was quiet, and then Susana was nice enough to give me a set of her clothes to change into. Just some old jeans that I had to fold a few times at the ankle and a black, floral-patterned blouse with long sleeves. Around noon, I was having lunch with Susana and Jonah when Diamondback, Sniper, and Jax got fully dressed with jackets and equipped themselves with ray guns. They each quickly picked up a piece of toast from the table and headed for the door.

“You boys be careful out there,” Susana warned as she spread butter on her piece of toast.

“We always are,” Diamondback said as he chewed on his piece of toast.

Jax, who had been letting the piece of toast hang from his mouth while he put his ray gun into his pant holster, added, “Meah, mee gomph mhis.”

“Would you not speak with your mouth full?” Diamondback shot an irritable look at him.

Jax wrinkled his nose at this and swallowed a piece of bread as he took the rest of the toast with his hand. “I said, yeah, we got this!” He brought down his elbow in a triumphant thrust.

I giggled at this, but then I realized I had no idea where they were going. “Wait… so you guys are going into battle or something?”

“We’re going Drac hunting today,” Diamondback replied with a matter-of-fact smirk.

“Drac hunting?” I asked, keeping my mouth agape at the absurdity of this term.

“Yeah, we find them, then dust them, then come back home in time to hear the sundown news from Dr. Death Defying,” Jax explained with a bright smile.

My eyes must have seemed big then, because Jonah looked over at me and said, “They do this every few days. It’s nothing to be alarmed over.”

“Exactly,” Diamondback replied. “You guys ready to go now?” He turned to Jax and Sniper, who both nodded in return.

“Good! Let’s go!” Diamondback said as he started a stride out of the house. I watched as the three of them walked out into the desert, then closed the door behind them.

I turned back to Jonah and Susana. “Drac hunting? Are they for real?”

“It’s nothing to get surprised over. BL/ind’s population in the Zones has been increasing, endangering us all. Think of it as getting rid of a rodent infestation,” Jonah told me as he took another sip of coffee.

“Those are really big rats, then,” I remarked with a scoff.

“They’re good boys,” Susana said as she looked over at me. “They know not to get too reckless.”

“So this is what they do here? Is this what you do?” I asked, looking between Jonah and Susana.

“We live, Leya,” Jonah told me. “But sometimes even that simple thing comes at a cost. Of blood.”

“But why look for trouble? Isn’t that more dangerous?”

“These boys… all of them have something to fight for, a reason that they’re all out here in the first place,” Susana explained. “So they protect what they can.”

I nodded, somewhat understanding. The guys probably had nowhere else to go like me. So they stayed here and did their part, which was to kill off enemies to protect their home. It was noble in a way.

The rest of the day, I got to work on washing dishes that were on the table–although, I was limited with how much water to use–and I tried to organize one single column of shelves in the kitchen. Susana supervised as she sat at the table, working on making another soup, with potatoes this time. As practical as it was, if I have to keep eating soup while there’s a heat wave going on, I think I might just literally melt and die.

It was quieter without the guys here. As should be expected, but it felt less home-y here. Of course, I had the luxury of sleeping all by myself in the living room, but it felt lonely again. Jonah and Susana didn’t speak that much, and to be honest, they were kind of boring people. At least the guys liked talking to me. Well, Sniper was quiet, but he engaged in conversation with looks and gestures.

I smiled to myself as I threw another useless plastic cap into the trash bin. I actually kind of liked those guys. Enough to miss their company, anyway. Since I had been out in the Zones, I don’t think I ever really missed the company of anyone who eventually parted ways with me. Except for my sister, of course. Missing her was an everyday thing. Especially now that I wished I could tell her about these new people I met, and how I wish that I could have her meet them, but… is that really ever going to be possible?

  


  


It was three quiet days like until the guys came back, which they did around sunrise.

I heard them bustle in through the front door, making sure their steps were quiet as they walked across the wooden floor. But I heard the zippers from Sniper’s jacket and pants jingle–probably the noisiest thing about him–and then when they brought down the beds from the walls and the closets, Jax must have stubbed his toe on something because I heard a “bang” then a muffled yelp, and then Diamondback whispered out an insult to him.

I turned my head and rose up from under my thin blanket. I sat up and saw them in the process of taking off their boots and jackets, looking silly with the slow and careful way in which they moved.

“Welcome back,” I said as I rubbed an eye.

Jax dropped a shoe and whipped around to look at me. “You’re awake?!” he whispered as his eyebrows shot up.

“Um, yeah,” I replied.

Diamondback stuck his hands in his pockets. “Sorry for waking you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said with a yawn. “I’m glad you guys are home.”

“Really?” he asked. His brown eyes got bigger in surprise. Then he cleared his throat and dryly laughed, “What, have the old people been driving you like a slave?”

I smiled. “No, they’ve been fine.”

Sniper had continued to take off his boots and then threw his jacket off to the armchair nearest him in the living room. He looked weary, and I swear I could see blood streaked along his arm, unless that was part of a tattoo.

“Did you guys… run into any danger?” I asked, looking to Sniper for any sort of reaction. He simply looked over at me and shrugged a shoulder.

“Just the usual assholes in white suits,” Jax said as he plopped down onto his bed.

Diamondback paced over to the living room and told me, “It was no big deal. Sniper just fell into a rough patch of dirt.”

Sniper scoffed as he crossed the room to the small cot he was occupying. “I’m fine,” he answered. I think that was the first time I heard his voice. It was kind of deep, but still sounded youthful.

Diamondback closed his eyes briefly as he groaned. “Wash that up and get some ointment on it,” he told Sniper, who had just sat down on his bed.

Sniper flicked an eyebrow up and answered, “I’m fine,” in the same exact tone.

Diamondback rose an eyebrow. “Yeah, sure you are… I’m just trying to prevent you from whining about blood in your sheets. You aren’t seriously going to lay there without washing up first, are you?”

Sniper gave him a cold look, then plopped onto his back, then rolled onto his side so that he faced away from Diamondback.

“You do that,” Diamondback muttered with a shake of his head. Then he turned to me. “You should go back to sleep. We’re all gonna get some shut eye right now.”

“Okay,” I answered as I laid back down.

Jax yawned very loudly. “Are you seriously going to wash up, Diamond? We just walked for three hours.”

Diamondback went to the kitchen and I heard him pick up a pot and fill it with water. “And that’s exactly why I’m going to make sure I go to bed clean. I honestly don’t know how you and Sniper just sleep in your own filth.”

I turned my head to look around and saw Diamond lift his shirt off above his head. His torso was lean, his shoulders and arms sinewy, and I saw a big pink scar near the top of his back.

He walked out into the back and I heard him splash as he scrubbed and rinsed all the dirt off of him. In only a few minutes, he came back into the house with dripping dark hair, towel and bucket in his left hand.

“Jax,” he barked out.

“What?” Jax muttered from his bed.

“You’re not fucking sleeping in that bed covered in dirt. Get your ass over here and wash up.”

“Diamond, seriously…”

I saw Diamondback put down his bucket and then rush toward the bed. He bent low and grabbed Jax around by the waist and then hoisted him over his shoulders, fire-fighter style. Jax struggled but Diamondback seemed to make no fuss about it and continued to walk with him across his shoulder.

“Dude, you’re still wet!” Jax groaned as he got carried outside. Diamondback plopped him out on the dirt. Then he came back inside to pick up his bucket and rushed back outside.

“You don’t have to strip me, yourself! I’ll fucking wash up, shit…” I heard Jax mutter from the outside.

Diamondback laughed as he came back inside. “Alright…you better not half ass it, either.”

  


  


Shortly after that, the guys all went to sleep for a few hours until Jonah and Susana came down to start making breakfast. They actually had a lot of food stocked up in here, which was great, considering I haven’t had real food in months.

“They smuggled it a couple months back,” Diamondback told me at the table as he sat next to me. “There was a delivery truck from Battery City that went into the Zones, on its way to a prison, I guess. Jonah and Susana hijacked it, ghosted the agents driving, and then took all the spoils.”

I nodded. “So where’s the truck?”

“Gave it to some other people who really needed it,” Jonah cut in from across the table.

“You didn’t need it?” I asked.

Jonah shook his head. “I already have a home here. Don’t intend to travel much. Some other travelers needed it.”

“Killjoys, you mean,” Jax remarked.

“Travelers,” Jonah repeated in his gruff voice. “I don’t see why all you young folks insist on making up these strange nicknames for yourselves. It’s all a bunch of crap, just go by your real names! Calling yourselves Buzzkills and dressing in all those weird colors–and you wonder why BL/ind doesn’t see you guys as a threat.”

Jax made a silly mocking face at this to me while he covered it from Jonah with his left hand. I quietly laughed at this, making sure the old man wouldn’t see.

Later that day, while Susana was sweeping up the floor of the house, which made such thick clouds of dust that I could hardly see in front of me, Jax and I decided to sit out back. Diamondback and Sniper stayed inside rather than risk sunburn, but the air was slightly less hot than it has been the last two weeks. So it wasn’t that bad to be out here in the sun. Jax and I just made sure to wear a couple of Jonah and Susana’s hats.

“So how old are you again?” Jax asked me as we walked around the side of the house.

“Nineteen,” I replied. “You?”

“Twenty. So that’s awesome! I finally have someone my age to hang out with!” he exclaimed.

“You don’t come across too many people around your age?” I asked.

He snorted. “Ha, never. Not since I was in Battery City, anyway. Never really meet any girls, either.” He looked over at me with a smile. His eyes were so much brighter in direct sunlight, and I noticed that he had an unusually pretty face for a guy.

I looked away from his face and kept walking in the dirt as I asked, “So how did you end up out here? Did you know Diamondback and Sniper before or…?”

“I ran away a year ago by myself. I had a car, I had money, I thought nothing could go wrong,” Jax told me with a smirk. “But of course, the car eventually overheated, and I got ambushed by Dracs, and…well, I would have been dead if Diamond and Sniper never showed up. After that, I stuck with them, and then after a particularly nasty battle with agents, Jonah and Susana helped us out and offered us a place to stay. All they asked for in return was five BL/ind badges a week. So we’re like mercenaries now.”

“Wait,” I said with a creased brow. “You mean they make you go out and kill agents and Dracs just so you can stay here?”

“Well… it’s not like we can just pay rent,” Jax replied as he stretched his hands up behind his head. “And it is helping them out, by protecting them. I like to think of ourselves as a sort of knight squad.”

Wow, that was a really positive way to look at this. Did Diamondback and Sniper feel this way?

“You look concerned,” Jax told me with a laugh.

“Well, that’s a dangerous job, isn’t it?” I asked.

“Nah,” Jax replied with a shrug. “It’s kind of fun, being able to stick it to those guys. Fighting the fight, you know?”

“I wouldn’t know anything about fighting,” I replied with a dry laugh. “I don’t even have my own ray gun.”

Jax raised his eyebrows. “How the hell did a girl like you make it out here, then?”

“A girl like me?” I asked.

He tilted his head and answered, “Well… you’re a pretty girl is all I’m saying. And you’re kind of small. And you don’t have a ray gun?”

“I just stuck with other people from Battery City and never really got around to getting a ray gun,” I replied, feeling even smaller than I usually felt.

“Well, don’t look down about it! I meant it as a compliment!” Jax shouted out. I looked up at him and laughed. His face looked so troubled.

“Thanks, then,” I replied with a smile as I looked over at him. We met eyes and then it got quiet between us as we stopped walking.

Jax seemed to really stare intensely, so I averted my gaze.

“So…” I awkwardly started, trying to think of something else to talk about.

“You know, I never really noticed before, but you’re beautiful,” Jax told me.

I felt my cheeks burn at this comment. “Um… what?” was all I uttered out.

Jax smiled as he continued to stare at me. “I’m sorry, it’s just… I haven’t really seen anyone as pretty as you in a couple years.”

“Um… thanks,” I replied as I brushed a strand of hair behind my ear, feeling hot around my whole face and neck now.

“You know… seeing as you’re an attractive girl and I’m an attractive guy, it’s almost like we’re obligated to test it out,” Jax continued.

“Test what out?” I asked.

Jax raised his eyebrows. “This,” he said gesturing a hand between the two of us. “You and me. You know… we’re the only two young people out for hundreds of miles… Do I really need to spell this out?”

“Oh…” I said as I felt myself blush. I guess I’d never had any guy be interested enough in me to flirt, so I totally missed that cue.

“I mean, you do find me attractive, don’t you?” Jax continued with a puppy dog look in his eyes.

I laughed nervously. “Well–yes, you’re very good looking.”

He came up closer to me, so now I could see his pretty-boy face even better. “Then there’s really only one thing to do now…”

I looked down uncomfortably, feeling my face get even hotter. “Um–well.”

“What–what’s wrong?” he asked.

“Ah–no… Forget it,” I said.

“What? What is it? Am I coming on too strong? Does my breath stink? What?” he asked, looking frantic.

I laughed at this. “No… It’s just…” I sighed. “I’ve never been kissed before.”

Jax’s eyes grew wide. “Oh…..”

I looked to the side. “Yeah. Embarrassing. I know.”

“That’s not embarrassing! I’m sure a lot of pretty girls don’t get kissed until they’re eighteen!”

“I’m nineteen…” I bitterly replied.

“Same difference!” he feebly argued with a smile.

I looked back up at him. “Wait. You don’t care?”

“Care about what?” Jax asked with a laugh.

“That I’ve never been kissed before? That I might be terrible at this?” I asked with a grimace.

Jax shook his head quickly as he smiled. “Of course I don’t care about that!”

“Thanks,” I shortly replied.

Jax moved back to stand next to me and leaned against the wall. “Look, I’m not gonna pressure you into doing anything you’re uncomfortable with. I don’t want to be that kind of jerk and you’re too nice of a girl to seduce.”

That last thing made me curious. “Really? Too nice?”

Jax just shrugged in response with eyes that went side to side. “It’s really kind of a shame you’ve never been kissed. Were all the guys at your school blind or something?” he told me with a flick of his eyebrows.

“No,"I said with a giggle. "I guess I’m just… not appealing enough to ask out.”

Jax made a move as if he’d been punched from the side of his face. He was looking at me with wildly huge eyes. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

I laughed at this exaggeration. “Well, it was Battery City…”

“Still!” he replied as he clutched his head and then put a palm up to his forehead.

I laughed. I’d never had anyone compliment me so much. This was a compliment, right?

“You know what? You’re gonna get kissed!” he said as he pointed a finger at me and walked up close to me.

Oh god, I’m not ready…

“But not like this. I’m gonna make it perfect, alright?” he told me with a smile. “There’s gonna be stars and sparks and fireworks and everything!”

“Why do you care so much?” I said through more giggles.

“Because a nice girl like you deserves to get kissed and kissed right!” Jax preached as he passionately grasped my shoulders.

I smiled. “Thanks, Jax…”

“You’re welcome,” he told me as he swallowed. We were so close now that I could see all the pores on his face. “Well… I guess… I guess I’ll be going now,” he said, looking at me with a serious expression.

It’s been two seconds and he hasn’t moved.

“Uh…Jax?” I questioned him.

“Yeah?” he asked.

I giggled. “You said you were–”

But he didn’t let me finish that sentence. He had moved forward and gently placed his lips on mine, his hands gripped on my shoulders. I didn’t really know what to do, so I left my hands at my sides. His lips were really hot and it didn’t help that both of our lips were chapped, so it just felt like rubbing sandpaper together. After three seconds, he parted from me and took his hands off my shoulders.

“So?” he asked, looking flushed in the face now. “How was that?”

“Well…” I started. “Um, it was okay.”

“Okay?!” he exclaimed.

I nervously moved my hands through my hair. “Yeah. It’s just… I didn’t feel anything.”

Jax arched one eyebrow. “Didn’t feel anything?”

I begrudgingly shook my head. “Sorry.”

“Well, maybe we can try it again!” Jax cheerfully suggested.

“Oh–okay,” I agreed.

This time, he moved slowly toward me and put his hand on the side of my face, stroking strands of hair behind my ear and then tilting my chin up. “Close your eyes,” he whispered.

I did as told and closed my eyes. I then felt his breath on my nose, and just after I felt his lips push against mine, more forcefully this time. He wrapped his other arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him.

This time, the kiss was a bit more passionate, but still… I felt nothing.

I don’t know why. I mean he was cute and all, and nice, but… I just couldn’t feel any spark. It was kind of disappointing.

He pulled away again, keeping his hand around my waist. “Okay, how was round two?” he asked.

I shook my head again. “Nothing.”

Jax raised his eyebrows. “Really?!”

I giggled. “I’m sorry. I mean, I really wanted to feel something, I just…”

“I get it,” he said as he put his hands on his hips and looked down.

“You do?” I asked.

“Yep,” he said with a smile. “I didn’t feel anything, either.”

I arched an eyebrow at this. “Really?”

“Yeah,” he said with a laugh. “It was almost like kissing a sister. Not that I have any sisters, but I can imagine what that would feel like.”

I laughed and smiled. “Well, this is fantastic!”

Jax laughed too. “Yeah. We’re the two best looking young people around for hundreds of miles and we’re not even romantically interested in each other. This blows.”

“That _**would**_ happen to me…” I sighed.

“I mean, let’s hope that the world’s population never depends on us reproducing.” Jax told me with a snort.

“Yeah, don’t wanna go there…” I said with a grimace.

Jax laughed. “Well, one good thing comes out of this. Diamond won’t want to kill me anymore.”

“Why would he do that?” I asked with a laugh.

“Oh, because he might have caught me checking you out the other day and then said word for word 'if you even think about touching her, you’re dead.’”

I laughed. “Well, you have touched me, technically. Was it worth the risk?”

Jax grinned. “What can I say? I walk on the wild side.”

I laughed at this corniness. “Well, I’m glad Diamondback’s not going to kill you anymore then. So, friends?”

“Just friends,” Jax told me as he swung an arm around my shoulder. “So what do you say we get out of the heat and back inside the house?”

“Sure thing, pal!” I said before we walked back into the house. Diamondback and Sniper were inside polishing their boots and weapons in the living room. Diamondback looked up at me and Jax, and immediately frowned.

“Jax, what the hell did I tell you?” he growled out as he saw us come in.

“Relax, Diamond! It’s all good!” Jax answered. “We’re just hanging out, platonically.”

“Don’t worry. There’s no chance of me ever getting romantically involved with this dweeb,” I told Diamondback with a smile.

He looked appeased and let himself smirk. Sniper made a quiet laugh, too.

“Hey, you didn’t have to call me a dweeb!” Jax protested as he looked at me.

“Well, you _**are**_ a dweeb,” Diamondback coolly added as he resumed his polishing work.

I parted from Jax and sat down on the sofa next to Sniper. He was trying to stick the peeling tongue of his leather boot back together with what looked like super glue. Next to him was a pile of what looked like shredded black rags. Then I noticed the blood-stained bandage wrapped around his untattooed left bicep and put two and two together. It was his jacket.

“Sniper, can I look at this?” I asked him, pointing to the ripped up jacket.

Diamondback and Jax both looked up and alert. Sniper simply blinked up at me and nodded, then went back to work on his boot.

I smiled at this and reached over to pick up the black jean jacket, raising it in front of me. Almost the entire left sleeve was ripped off where I supposed Sniper had got hurt. It was only hanging on by a few threads. There were also a few rips and shreds throughout the whole thing.

“I can fix this for you if you want me to,” I told Sniper. “All I need is black thread. And I think Susana has a sewing machine upstairs.”

Diamondback, Jax, and even Sniper all looked at me with big eyes.

“Well, what do you say?” I asked Sniper with a smile.

He had stared at me for a couple seconds with those dark eyes and that serious chiseled face of his. Then he let out a small smile, his lip piercings making dimples at the corners of his mouth. “Sure.”

I smiled and rose up quickly. “Great! I’ll get to work on this right now!”

Sniper returned to his work, the handsome smile still on his face. Jax and Diamondback were staring over with their jaws open like idiots.

With the jacket in my hands, I hurried over to the hanging ladder and climbed up to Susana and Jonah’s room. Jonah was the only one in there, reading an old paperback novel on his bed.

“Do you mind if I use the sewing machine up here?” I asked.

“Sewing machine? What are you gonna do with that?” Jonah replied.

“I’m fixing this jacket,” I answered as I held up Sniper’s jacket.

Jonah nodded, then shrugged. “Go ahead.”

I smiled and went right away to the bottom of the bed, where I remembered seeing the old sewing machine. I plugged it in to a socket near the bed and sat on the floor as I prepared everything.

I had taken a home economics class in high school, and my mom was always good at sewing, so I had a lot of instruction and practice in sewing and mending clothes. The sleeve would be the easiest to mend, so I started with that. After a half hour, I got done fixing the rest of the patches. Sure, you could see the stitches of thread in between, but at least it was all put together now. I quickly put away the sewing machine, the thread, and all my other supplies, and scurried down the ladder to meet the boys again. They were still in their same spots, looking like they were doing more play than work…what with Jax and Diamondback tackling each other on the small armchair while Sniper just laughed at them.

I jumped down a few feet to land on the floor and then I walked over to the living room, holding the jacket behind my back. I moved around the tussling duo, and sat next to Sniper again. He looked at me with bright eyes.

“I finished!” I announced as I brought the jacket from behind me and presented it to him. “Hope it’s alright…”

Sniper took the jacket into his hands and looked over all sides of it, running fingers over the stitches. Then he looked up at me with a warm smile.

“Thank you, Leya,” he told me in a voice that was surprisingly normal and confident.

“No problem,” I sheepishly answered with a smile.

He put on the jacket, shrugging it on until it was snug, and then he made a pleased grin on his face. He looked back over at me. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

I rose my eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

He tilted his head and replied, “Well, to pay you back for this.”

“Oh, you don’t need to do that!” I said as I waved my hands in front of me in protest.

He smirked, making his piercings set dimples again. “I feel like I need to do something in return. It’s not everyday someone comes in here and fixes my favorite jacket.”

I blinked. Even if I wanted something in return, I couldn’t think of anything. Then I saw something black poke out from under the jacket sleeve on Sniper’s wrist, and realized it was a tattoo. I tried to see what it was, and looked closer. It looked like silhouettes of flying black birds, but there was something huge and black behind it that I couldn’t really see.

“What does your tattoo mean?” I asked.

He looked down, surprised, and then pointed at it. He looked back up at me. “This?”

“Yeah, does it mean anything special?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t being overbearing.

He softly nodded as he pushed up his sleeve and turned his wrist over so I could see the whole thing. It was an elaborately sketched big plume feather, and the small birds were flying out of the end, like small individual feathers flying in the wind.

“Well, I thought it was really cool. And it symbolizes flight out of just one feather,” Sniper told me as he admired it himself.

“What do you mean?” I questioned.

He cleared his throat and started again as he looked up at me, “It’s kind of like… being broken down until you have nothing, but you still have this one hope left. As long as you have that, you can keep going and eventually, you can fly away. But I got the tattoo mostly because it looks cool.” He finished with a playful glow in his eyes.

I smiled widely at this. I didn’t know he could be funny. “Well, I like it. It’s very pretty.”

“Thank you,” Sniper replied with a nod.

“You’re welcome,” I replied with a smile. “Thanks for telling me about it.”

He nodded again and then a few seconds later, he took the jacket off and picked up his boots from the floor onto his lap.

I looked over at Diamondback and Jax, who turned their heads away, to look as if they had not been eavesdropping the entire time. I smiled at this. I guess Sniper never even talked to them much, either. I wonder why. He seemed perfectly capable of speech, and he didn’t seem too bothered with talking to me. I wonder why he’s so quiet most of the time.

At that moment, Sniper turned to me with a closed mouth smile and then went back to work. Maybe that was his way of saying he’s done talking for now. I took this cue and got up to go over to Jax and Diamondback, who were scrambling to look like they were busy in deep conversation.

“So how’s it going guys?” I casually asked.

“Umm–good, and you? How was your little conversation with Sniper?” Jax asked, looking a little hungry in his eyes.

I laughed. “He just told me what one tattoo on his wrist meant.”

Diamondback leaned in close to me. “Leya, how did you do it?” he whispered.

I creased my brow. “Do what?”

'Get him to talk to you!“ Diamondback replied while Jax eagerly nodded his head while he stuck his head in between us.

I shrugged. "I don’t know… the way you strike up a conversation with anybody else?” I laughed. “What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is that Sniper doesn’t talk. To anyone. Ever,” Diamondback said with an even more pronounced eyebrow raise with each phrase.

“Well… have you met many other people apart from me?” I asked.

Diamondback shook his head. “I’m not talking about other people, Leya! I’m talking about–” He looked over at Sniper behind me, who was deeply concentrated in fixing his other shoe, and lowered his voice. “Sniper says maybe about ten words to me…each week. He’s dead silent the rest of the time. No one knows why. I’ve asked him about it, and he said he wasn’t always this quiet, but he won’t ever explain why he is the way that he is. And now you come in, and he’s having an entire verbal conversation with you! What the hell did you do?”

I looked over at Sniper. He looked like a pleasant, handsome young man. And even though he didn’t talk much, when he spoke to me, it was just like any other regular person. “I don’t know…” I told Diamondback. “Just talked to him…”

“Hmm….” Diamondback muttered as he seemed to stare at me. It was starting to make me feel uncomfortable.

“Don’t feel too bad for Sniper,” Jax cut in. “Even though he doesn’t talk, he still expresses himself enough.” He smiled. “You should see him when he gets angry on the battlefield. Dude might be thin, but he’s hella strong and he’ll take out anyone who crosses him.”

Diamondback continued to look at me. “Maybe it’s something about the way you look… Maybe he has a crush on you,” he laughed, and then his smirk fell. “That actually would be terrible.”

I giggled. “Sniper, have a crush on me? I don’t think so…”

“Why not? You’re cute enough,” Jax remarked.

“Hey… what was all that talk about having nothing to worry about?” Diamondback narrowed his eyes at Jax.

I glanced at Sniper again, who looked up and met my eyes with a smile. Whatever it is that’s got him so quiet, it can’t have affected him too badly. He’s definitely intimidating at first, but he’s showing me who he is and opening himself up. I hope I have the chance to open up to him, too, one day.

  


  


  


The next morning immediately after breakfast, the guys started to dress for going out. Boots, jackets, guns, gloves, and bandanas. Don’t tell me they were going “hunting” again…

“You guys are leaving again? You just got back,” I protested as I walked over to them and crossed my arms.

“Well, those Dracs aren’t going to ghost themselves,” Diamondback told me.

I frowned. “It’s just unnecessary. And isn’t it scary, going out to look for them like that?”

Jax smiled. “Nope! We’re not afraid of some stupid Dracs.”

I turned to Sniper, who had been twirling his ray gun between both hands. He looked perfectly happy with going out.

Diamondback turned to me. “Look, it’s our job to protect this Zone. To make it safe for people to live here. If we don’t do it, who else will?”

I shrugged and sighed. “I just don’t think you guys should be going out looking for trouble every other day.”

“Well we’re not going to wait until trouble shows up on our doorstep,” Diamondback answered.

“Don’t worry about us,” Jax told me. “Diamond’s the best shooter around and Sniper and I always got his back.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Well, I wish I was as brave as you guys.”

“You’re brave in your own way,” Diamondback told me as he sent me a warm look from his brown eyes.

“Whatever that means,” I said with a laugh.

“Leya, do you think you’d be able to sew any more tears or rips we might get on our clothes?” came the unexpected voice of Sniper as he stretched his legs.

“Yeah, of course!” I replied, while Diamondback and Jax’s jaws dropped again.

“Cool. Thanks,” Sniper answered with a smile as he started to stretch his left arm now.

“Okay, dude, that’s it. Why do you talk to Leya and not me? I’ve known you much longer!” Jax whined, finally bringing up the elephant in the room.

Sniper softly chuckled. “You talk enough for the both of us.”

Diamondback and I laughed as Jax scoffed. “Oh… Okay, then! I’ll be quiet today, too, then you won’t have an excuse anymore!”

“Wow–a day without Jax talking–it must be a miracle!” Diamondback joked.

Jax went up and lightly punched him in the arm, and then Diamondback punched back, and the two started to tussle right there.

“Boys! Take that outside!” Susana growled from the kitchen.

The guys let go of each other and Sniper followed them to the door.

“Be careful,” I feebly offered as I walked up to the door. “And come back soon.”

“Aw, you worried still?” Diamondback asked with a laugh.

“No, not really,” I tried to brush it off with a blink.

“Look, as long as we have an incentive to come back, we won’t ever die,” he replied with a smile.

“What incentive do you guys have?” I asked with a scoff.

“You,” Diamondback sincerely answered.

“Me?” I questioned in surprise as I looked between the three of them. Jax and Sniper were smiling at me as well.

“Yeah. Can’t leave you alone with the old folks forever! So we’ll come back to rescue you from their boorish company,” Diamondback replied as he put his hands on his waist.

“I heard that!” Jonah shouted from the kitchen.

I laughed. “Good. And just so you know… I can’t handle more than two days of boredom…”

Jax laughed. “Then we’ll come back in two days or less!”

Diamondback turned to him with a bemused look on his brow, then turned back to me. “Hold down the fort for us.” Then he leaned in to whisper, “And go and play that old man’s guitar a couple times for me.”

I giggled at this and winked back at him with a nod.

“Well, we’re leaving!” Diamondback announced as he waved to Jonah and Susana.

“Don’t get killed out there,” Jonah nonchalantly called out while not even looking up.

“See ya, Leya,” Diamondback said before turning to open the door. Jax waved at me and then followed him out.

Sniper turned to me and waved with one hand as he walked out backwards.

“See you all soon!” I called out as I watched him skip over to catch up with Jax and Diamondback in the desert. The other two clapped hands on his skinny shoulders and they kept a comfortable gait like that for about half a minute, until they were just black specks to my eyes.

My heart felt warm as I watched them go off. Even if they might run into danger, I at least have hope of seeing them again. A real hope, because somehow…I just know I’m going to see them again soon. I haven’t felt this kind of positive anticipation in months.

Krys, you should feel relieved… I think for once, I found good people. And I don’t know how long I’ll be here until I find you, but in the meantime, you should feel glad to know…

I think I’m really going to like it here.


End file.
